Avoidable costs of physical treatments for chronic back, neck and shoulder pain within the Spanish National Health Service: a cross-sectional study

Table 1 Costs of each form of therapy used for treating non-specific chronic neck pain (NP), back pain (BP) and shoulder pain (SP).

		NP: 8308 cases			BP: 4693 cases			SP: 5035 cases			Total: 18036 cases
	Unit cost^a (€) (U)	N° of Procedures (P)	N° of Sessions (S)	Costs (€) (UxPxS)	N° of Procedures (P)	N° of Sessions (S)	Costs (€) (UxPxS)	N° of Procedures (P)	N° of Sessions (S)	Costs (€) (UxPxS)	Total N° of Procedures	Total Costs (€)
Exercises	1.25	10440^b	30	391509	6613^b	30	248006	7194^b	35	314729	18036	954243
Manual mobilization	4.5	7366	30	994379	3500	30	472489	3056	35	481346	13922	1948214
Thermotherapy	2	4392	30	263544	2807	30	168405	1591	35	111394	8791	543344
TENS	1	3885	30	116563	2006	30	60180	2435	35	85219	8326	261963
Ultrasounds	1.25	3386	30	126972	1686	30	63209	2665	35	116574	7736	306754
Hot compresses	1.25	1983	30	74371	1123	30	42130	944	35	41318	4051	157819
Electrical stimulation	2.5	1857	30	139265	1453	30	108975	1170	35	102340	4479	350579
Traction	1	1230	30	36907	281	30	8432	249	35	8699	1760	54037
Short wave	2.5	948	30	71082	418	30	31363	1594	35	139506	2960	241951
Cutaneous laser	3	311	30	27964	120	30	10772	688	35	72198	1118	110935
Iontophoresis	2.5	216	30	16223	152	30	11420	740	35	64778	1109	92421
Magnetotherapy	3	198	30	17862	270	30	24340	412	35	43255	881	85458
Total		36213		2276642	20430		1249722	22737		1581356	79381	5107720

National Health Service in the Canary Islands (ISCH), 2004 to 2007
^a Unit costs 1 session for 1 procedure or case
^bNo. of procedures for exercises are higher than the number of cases for NP, BP and SP due to different types of specific exercises prescribed, with additional costs, for the same case.

ISSN: 1471-2474